Dancing Down Memory Lane with the Cuban National Ballet

I took jazz and modern dance in elementary school and I was good at it. Really good, and I loved it. I found ballet late when I was 15, but excelled quickly. A couple of years later at the Boston School of Ballet, a series of nasty shin splints and a pair of mobile patellas (bad knees) ended any hopes I had of being a professional. I was devastated.

I was instantly struck by how at home I felt even though so many years had passed. (And no, I’m not going to say how many years). Watching the dancers prepare, I remembered how it felt to wrap the ribbons of my toe shoes, one, two, three times around my ankle and then tie it off, making sure to tuck the ends into the wrap so that nothing was hanging. I remembered the rush I’d feel when class would begin and the pianist began to play. I remembered the joy of dancing, feeling the music, crushing the choreography. There was nothing better. Nothing.

We were there to photograph the dancers, which was no easy feat when you’re dodging 8 other photographers, dim lighting, fast-moving subjects and a wall full of mirrors. I looked around trying to figure out how to tackle the space and not get in the way of the other photographers, the dancers or the teachers.

Then I saw her.

Standing at the barre, glowing from the light that was streaming in through a nearby window, stood dancer Mercy Piedra.

Yep, got it.

~Taken while an invited guest of the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops’: Seeing Cuba: Discovering the Culture and People of Cuba: Words and sentiment are my own.

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Are there any open classes at the ballet school? I’m visiting Cuba in March and am a certified American Ballet Theater teacher and dancer in New York. Would love to even observe! Thanks for the lovely post.

The images are brilliant! I was wondering as you are interested in Dance if you would have a quick read of my blog I’ve only written two posts up to now however all comments are appreciated on my writing style. Thanks

Thank you very much. It’s all about the shutter speed. There’s a reason I don’t have any action shots in the mix. It was way too dark to get anything decent. Good luck on your next try. Let me know how they come out.

I took ballet for many years (and now have the bad knees as proof), but still enjoy photos of dancers and watching ballets. The lines of the dancers are always so beautiful, and you clearly captured that.

Thanks, Whitney. It was really hard to shoot in the studio with the dimness of the light – it was an overcast day and the studio was pretty low-light anyway. Plus, with the mirrors I had to angle myself so that the other photographers weren’t in the shot. I didn’t get much from that day, but was pleased with the few I captured. Not my best work. Not my worst. :))